Lincklaen Street parking lot ‘soft opening’ this week

The new public parking lot at 22 Lincklaen Street will have a soft opening this week with an official dedication ceremony to name the lot in honor of former village Trustee Peggy Van Arnam at the end of the month.

During the Sept. 3 village board meeting, the trustees approved the final resolutions necessary to complete the new village parking lot, including setting the parking fee, approving a handicapped spot and designating the official name.

After weeks of construction on the new lot throughout the month of August, the village Department of Public Works paved and striped the lot within the past two weeks. Prior to that, a new sidewalk had been poured, shrubbery and trees planted and a public bench placed near the entrance. The drive-through mailbox and informational signage will be placed in coming in the near future.

The lot will have 23 parking spaces, which is one more than had been anticipated, due to the removal of the designated handicapped parking space from the lot into the street. While the new handicapped space will be adjacent to the 10-minute spaces in front of the post office, the handicapped space will not be limited to 10 minutes, said Mayor Kurt Wheeler.

Parking in the Lincklaen Street lot will cost $1 per hour from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with free parking on Sundays, holidays and every night from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. No overnight parking will be allowed.

The new parking lot — which is a one-way lot with its entrance on Lincklaen Street between the post office and the Catherine Cummings Theater — also will contain a drive-up mailbox. It is hoped that the new mailbox will significantly decrease the number of cars parked in the 10-minute spaces along Lincklaen Street from people simply dropping off mail inside the post office and will therefore create a “net increase” in village parking, Wheeler said.

The trustees unanimously voted to approve the parking fee and the designation of the new handicapped space. They also unanimously agreed to name the lot “Peggy’s Lot” in honor of former Trustee Peggy Van Arnam, who spearheaded the parking lot project from its inception while she was on the board.

The official dedication of the lot is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, before the “Couples Night Out” event sponsored by the Historic Cazenovia Business District and the Greater Cazenovia Area Chamber of Commerce, Wheeler said.

In a related action, the village also will be placing 20 informational signs around the village to direct visitors and residents of the various parking options — both free and pay — available downtown, Wheeler said. The signs will be “an experiment” with the goal of reducing the number of parking violations that typically occur in the village, he said.

Also at the meeting, the board:

—Agreed to hold a public hearing on Oct. 7 to consider creating a length of service award for members of the Cazenovia Volunteer Fire Department. Fire Chief Nick Enders requested the program and the public hearing, saying it will help the department with recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters. The program would allow firefighters with enough years of service to accrue a monetary amount – similar to a retirement or 401K benefit – at retirement.

Trustee and Fire Commissioner Dave Porter said while this will cost the village money it would cost far more if the village were ultimately forced to create a professional fire department. “In the long term this is really going to make financial sense for the village,” Porter said. Creation of the proposed program would require not only a public hearing but also approval by village voters in a public referendum.

—Heard from Wheeler that the Economic Health and Heritage Committee on Aug. 27 completed a visual preference survey of the Village Edge South area to help design guidelines for the VES development process. He said the committee continues to work on the zoning details and will hold two meetings in September, a public work session on zoning issues on Sept. 10 and a public presentation of the visual preference survey at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, in the village municipal building.

The EHH Committee presented its recommended changes to the Village Edge South section of the village Comprehensive Plan to the village board and also sent the recommendations to the county planning department for comment in August. Wheeler said he anticipated the village board will be able to take action on the recommended Comprehensive Plan changes at its Oct. 7 meeting.

—Approved a request from Project CAFÉ to hold a “Crop Walk” at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 20, on village streets.

—Heard from Trustee Amy Mann that the L.L. Bean Outdoor Discovery School in Lakeland Park continues to be successful and L.L. Bean executives are looking to use Carpenter’s Barn in fall 2013 and throughout 2104 for as a staging and storage area for classes in archery, snowshoeing, fly fishing and kayaking. “They are thrilled and they would like to expand [the school],” Mann said.

—Unanimously approved a resolution to thank village parking enforcement officer Stacy Jones for her four years of service to the village. Jones resigned recently and ended her work last week because she is moving out of the area.

—Heard from Police Chief Michael Hayes that the village police continue to investigate the graffiti crimes that occurred throughout the village during the summer. He said although there has been one arrest he is certain there are three other suspects “yet to be apprehended” and his officers continue to follow leads.

Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at editor@cazenoviarepublican.com